Before we get onto business, I want to excuse myself, as well as Camila, for doing this so late. We’ve been extremely busy and caught up on other things, hence the reason we haven’t posted much these last couple of weeks, so we completely forgot we had to get this done.
BUT BETTER LATE THAN NEVER, RIGHT?
Since we still wanted to try and read SOMETHING with you guys, I asked Cam for a theme or genre that we could read and you guys would like and she suggested magic.
And so we started looking for options and managed to narrow it down to these four books:
Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
I’m sure you’ve heard about this book a thousand times, and seen it around a thousand more times, but in case you haven’t, I’ll tell you a little bit about it.
This book is part of a six book series (I believe) about three kingdoms in which magic has been long forgotten and and who had managed to keep peace between them for centuries. Or at least until a sort of deathly disruption breaks that hard-won peace.
As every kingdom and ruler fights for power, the lives of their subjects take a complete turn, including the lives of our protagonists, Cleo (a princess), Jonas (a rebel), Lucia (a sorceress) and Magnus (an heir), who suddenly find their fates inevitably intertwined, aaaaand that’s pretty much all I know about it. But you get the point, right?
(In case you DON’T get the point, THIS BOOK IS BOUND TO BE AN AMAZING RIDE.)
The premise of these books just seems like the perfect thing for fantasy lovers, and quite a lot of booktubers have been talking about it, including Jesse from Jessethereader (link to his review), Sam from Thoughts on Tomes (link to her review), and Laney from gingerreadslaney (link to her review), so in conclusion, it MUST be good.
Bell Weather by Dennis Mahoney
Now, this book was kind of a wildcard from my part.
I’d barely seen this book around, or heard anyone talk about it, for that matter, but I randomly found it on Goodreads and was immediately drawn to the cover, and shortly after, found out it was a fantasy book. Being the fantasy lover that I am, I was sold!
(It’s a beautiful cover, don’t even deny it.)
So, as I said, I know very little about it but I will tell you what I know.
This book is set in a world called Root, a magic infused world in which the people are very closely tied to nature. It’s said to be a very unique world in which sometimes right things, like rain falling from the sky and light shimmering down on the world, tend to happen…upside down? Reversed? Seemingly (and amazingly) wrong?
I like to think of it like Wonderland, in which what is normal is not normal and what is right is actually wrong, and vice versa. I mean, I haven’t read the book (YET) but I find that to be an easy way to wrap my head around the concept. Does that make sense?
The story begins with a flood of FLOWERS (how freaking cool is that?), following the life of owner of the only tavern in Root, Tom Orange, and of Molly, the mysterious woman whom he finds unconscious amidst this flood, who wakes up to find that she remembers nothing of her past, save for her name.
This book is said to have incredible world-building, and is supposedly hilarious too. It’s described as a unique, strange take on fantasy and magical realism, and like I said, I’m sold.
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
I knew nothing of this book until Cam suggested we read it and apparently it’s a movie?!??!??!? *prolonged gasp*
So yeeeeah, you probably think I’m a noob now, but it’s a thing, okay?
Anyways, the description up on Goodreads is not very long or elaborate but I think it covers everything and seems easy enough to understand, so I’ll just put that down here, as I had no idea of its existence before today and haven’t done much research on it.
Goodreads description: Hopelessly crossed in love, a boy of half-fairy parentage leaves his mundane Victorian-English village on a quest for a fallen star in the magical realm. The star proves to be an attractive woman with a hot temper, who plunges with our hero into adventures featuring witches, the lion and the unicorn, plotting elf-lords, ships that sail the sky, magical transformations, curses whose effects rebound, binding conditions with hidden loopholes and all the rest.
Now that sounds pretty cool, if you ask me, and as I was looking through reviews on it on Goodreads, I found that Ariel Bisset (you should totally check out her channel) read it and gave it a 5/5, and her reviews are usually accurate and always seem to hold true, so I trust her input.
She described it as “more adult,” “slower and whimsical,” and “more 
grounded in reality,” in comparison to the movie, which she describes to be more “family friendly,” and “wittier and funnier and sillier and faster paced.”
That is preeeeetty much all I know about it, and I may or may not be checking out the movie later on.
(that’s the movie poster, by the way. and LOOK! ROBERT DE NIRO IS IN THIS MOVIE!)
Air Awakens by Elise Kova
This is probably the one I’m most excited about, not gonna lie.
This book is set in a a place called the Solaris Empire, and follows the life of seventeen year old, library apprentice, Vhalla Yarl, who was taught to fear the Tower of Sorcerers, a mysterious magic society, and who had been more than happy to stay immersed in her quiet world of books.
Now, this obviously takes a huuuuge turn as she unknowingly saves the life of one of the most powerful sorcerers, she discovers she has magic of her own. The rare elemental magic of a windwalker. The last windwalker.
Sooooooo, she has to decide between embracing her sorcery and leaving behind all that she had known, or getting rid of it and remain as she was before.
I’d seen this book quite a handful of times on Goodreads (I’ve barely seen it around on instagram) while searching for books to buy, but I never seemed to ACTUALLY buy it.
Let’s just say that now I feel like I NEED this book. Right now. RIGHT NOW.
As I was doing my research on this book, I felt like I needed reassurance. So, searched for a review on le YouTube and found that Caden, from @athousandbookstoread on Instagram, had reviewed it aaaaaaand she just about finished convincing me.
She described it as Throne of Glass meets Avatar: The Last Airbender and if that doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will. On top of this, she just seemed so invested and enthusiastic and excited about this book, and just… If you’ve watched her videos, you know what I mean when I say that her excitement and enthusiasm is contagious.
So yeah, I’m literally gonna buy this book the next time I go book shopping, regardless of if it gets chosen or not. It sounds too good and I’m weak, I can’t help myself.
Oh, and you don’t have to wait long for a sequel because it’s already out! The first book in this series came out on August of this year, the sequel came out just a few days ago, and the THIRD book in this series will come out sometime around February of this next year.
(Not to mention that these books have stunning covers.)
Those are all the options we have for you guys! Again, we’re sorry it took us so long, but we’ll be back on track for the next time around.
The poll closes some time around Friday of this week (it’s the 27th, I think) so we can at least announce it before the month ends. As soon as we find out which book is our Read-Along Book of the Month, I’ll upload a reading schedule so you can join us and we can discuss it as we go!
So yeeeeeeeeeah, vote, VOTE, VOTE!
the reader's compass 